


Truthfully

by TheGreatCatsby



Category: All New X-Factor, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Soulmates, quickbit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 11:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3118760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gambit joins the X-Factor team, and Pietro finds it worryingly impossible to lie to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truthfully

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate AU for a tumblr prompt about soulmates being unable to lie to each other. Enjoy!

“Your soulmate is not Alex Summers,” Pietro said, folding his arms and glaring at Lorna, who glared back at him. 

“And what if he is?” Lorna shot back. “What am I going to do knowing that my soulmate sent my half-brother to spy on me because he doesn't trust me? You put me in a very difficult position, Pietro.” 

“I said I'm sorry,” Pietro snapped. “I've grown to care about this team. And I need them. And you.” 

They stared at each other for a few moments, Pietro determined not to look away even though admitting what he had to Lorna had been hard. And Lorna tried not to look surprised. 

And then: “He's not my soulmate.” 

“Thank--”

“But he was my boyfriend,” Lorna cut him off. “You can stay on the team. I think I slapped you hard enough that you won't do it again.”

“And Alex?” Pietro kind of wanted the other man to suffer as well. Mostly because he didn't like or trust Alex. 

Lorna's expression darkened. “I'll deal with him when the time comes. By the way, we have a new member of the team.” 

“Isn't it a little late to be adding new members?” Pietro asked, folding his arms over his chest. 

“As team leader I didn't think so,” Lorna said. “Anyway, he needed a change of pace from his normal routine but he didn't want to go down the whole thief route. So-”

“Thief?” Pietro repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Who the hell did you hire, Lorna?” 

“You know him,” Lorna said. “He's an X-Man. Gambit.” 

“Did I hear my name?” A man slipped through the door into the room, grinning at the both of them, and extended a hand. “Remy LeBeau. Ex-thief. X-Man. And now, part of X-Factor.” 

Pietro refused his hand. “I've heard of you,” he said. “But we haven't had the pleasure of meeting.” He sounded like he didn't want to have the pleasure of meeting, ever. 

“It's a good thing Lorna fixed that, then,” Remy drawled. “I heard of you, too. Quicksilver, former Avenger, twin sister ta the Scarlet Witch who, by the way, ain't half bad--”

“Enough,” Pietro snapped. “I have no desire to hear what you think about Wanda. And you should keep quiet on the matter if we're going to work together.” 

“He's a little touchy about his sister,” Lorna murmured. 

“Ain't you his sister too?” Remy asked. 

“Yeah, but we only found that out a few years ago.” 

“So,” Remy turned to Pietro, “what brought you ta X-Factor?” 

Pietro wanted to say something short, like that he also needed a change of pace or that it was none of Remy's business, but his mouth started moving before he'd fully thought about what he was saying. “I was with the Avengers and Havok was concerned about Lorna. He asked me to look after her so I joined the team. I ended up terminating my relationship with Havok and the Avengers because I grew to care about the team.” 

Lorna was staring at him. Remy looked highly amused. Pietro realized what he'd said, muttered, “Ihavesomethingtotakecareofelsewhere,” and darted out of the room before the other two could even think of commenting. 

*

“I saw the press conference,” Remy said. He'd found Pietro in the kitchen that evening and wanted to talk to him. Something about Pietro interested him. It was probably the strange honesty he'd been met with that morning, though Lorna said Pietro could be a blunt person. But even she couldn't figure out why he'd been so honest with Remy about how he'd come to X-Factor when he'd taken months to tell her. 

“Wonderful,” Pietro muttered. He closed the book he was reading and in the blink of an eye, the food on his plate had disappeared. 

“You sure hurt a lot of people,” Remy said. “Why'd you lie?” 

Pietro opened his mouth, then closed it, his expression turning hostile. “I was scared,” he ground out, standing up. “Why did you come to X-Factor?” 

“Because I wanted ta be a better person, but I couldn't do it with the X-Men. Not as a teacher.” Remy paused, frowning. He'd just wanted to say what he'd said earlier. Change of pace, his standard answer. But he kept talking instead. “It was either this or go back ta being a thief. But I'm actually trying ta do good.” He shrugged. “Even though technically I'm still the king of the Thieves Guild.” 

“Why is that?” Pietro asked, moving past him to place his plate in the dishwasher. 

“Because they're like family,” Remy said, “and even if they're not in the most morally sound profession, they're still good people at heart.” 

Pietro turned to him again. “And your own family wasn't good enough?” 

Remy shrugged. “They rarely are.” 

Pietro stared at him for a moment and Remy could practically see his thoughts racing across his face. He looked like he wanted to say something, or many things, but instead he left in a gust of wind. 

*

“Your brother ever consider being a therapist?” 

Lorna choked on her drink and doubled over, laughing. Remy sighed and waited until she was done. She wiped her eyes and gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, just—Pietro? He's cold to everyone, he's the most impatient man in the world, if you want affection from him you'll have to drag him kicking and screaming through the depths of hell to get it. He doesn't trust people, he's not open. He's the last person—sorry, why are you asking?” 

“It's just,” Remy shrugged. “He seems honest.”

“He spent the last three years lying to everyone,” Lorna pointed out. 

“Well, yeah, okay,” Remy said, “but it seems like he's turned over a new leaf. And isn't that what this team's about?” 

“We don't talk about that part,” Lorna said. 

“Anyway, I dunno. He just seems like the sorta person you can open up to.” 

Lorna tried and failed to stifle another laugh. “What do you mean by that?” 

“Every time I talk ta him I just, I dunno,” Remy shrugged, “I just tell him everything I'm thinking. Maybe you're right, though. He doesn't seem too keen on it. He's been avoiding me. He—what?” 

Lorna's mouth had dropped open and her eyes were wide. She blinked, then shook her head. “Oh. My. God.” 

“What?” 

“Remy LeBeau. I can't—I. Wow. I--” She stood up. “I have to talk to Pietro.” 

“Wait,” Remy started, but Lorna was out of the room before he could grab her. 

*

The Lincoln Memorial was on fire and at least three Sentinels were trying to kill them. 

“I can't believe this,” Lorna shouted over the comms as she hit one of the robots over the head with a large chunk of metal that used to be a rather nice car. “You'd think the government would have better control over these things but no, they just had to have them set loose on our nation's capital.” 

“It's a virus,” Doug said. “A glitch.” 

“A glitch that kills people,” Remy pointed out. “I don't think this was a mistake.” 

“What do you think happened, Gambit?” Danger asked. 

“I think someone purposefully turned on the Sentinels and set 'em loose,” Remy said. “There's plenty of mutant-hating groups who'd do that.” 

“Wouldn't they have claimed responsibility by now?” Doug asked. 

“Not unless the operation was a success,” Lorna said. “Quicksilver, I need you to head to the base these Sentinels originated from and review their computer systems, see if anyone hacked into it. Doug, go with him.” 

“Be careful,” Remy added, almost as a reflex. 

There was a pause over the comms before Pietro added a grudging, “You too.” 

Once they'd gone, Danger asked, “What was that?” 

“What was what?” Remy asked, tossing a bunch of charged-up playing cards at the feet of the nearest Sentinel so that Warlock could sneak up behind it. 

“You and Quicksilver exchanged--”

“Danger concentrate,” Lorna hissed. One of the Sentinels had deployed a rocket which exploded at Danger's feet, tossing her in the air. She landed a few feet away and straightened up, looking angry. 

“I have no time for this,” she said, walking up to the Sentinel and plunging her hand through its chest. She ripped out a bunch of wires. The Sentinel faltered, but didn't fall. 

“Here!” Remy yelled, tossing a charged card into the gaping hole Danger had created. The card—and the Sentinel—exploded, raining pieces of metal down upon a pleased Danger. 

“We should work together more often,” she said. 

“We're kinda on a team so, I think you'll get your wish.” 

“Lorna,” Pietro's voice crackled over the comms again. “Doug found the source of the bug. It's from outside of the government offices, but it's designed not to shut down until all of the Sentinels affected by it are destroyed.” 

“Fantastic,” Lorna muttered, throwing another car at the nearest Sentinel. 

“We're heading back to help now,” Pietro added. 

Within seconds he was back, zipping around the remaining two Sentinels, creating a distraction while the others attempted to tear them apart. 

“Gambit, the Sentinels are mainly powered by the machinery in their heads,” Warlock intoned. “Perhaps if you threw your cards--” 

“I have an idea,” Pietro interrupted. “Gambit, brace yourself.”

“For wha---” Remy yelped as he felt himself lifted off the ground and tossed over a bony shoulder. The world blurred and he could barely make out his surroundings. The wind whipped his hair, his stomach dropped, and he could see Pietro wearing an expression of deep concentration. 

“This is awesome,” Remy shouted in his ear. Pietro winced. “We should do this more often!” 

“I'm going to run up the Sentinel,” Pietro told him. “I need you to charge up a card and toss it at its head.” 

A distant explosion reached Remy's ears, followed by a second, closer explosion. Pietro seemed completely unaffected. 

“How d'you see like this?” Remy asked, already charging up several cards. 

“My brain processes everything at a higher speed than the average person,” Pietro told him. “Are you ready?” 

“Yeah,” Remy said. Pietro's shoulder was digging into his ribs. He saw a blur of metal and heard Pietro shout, “NOW!” 

He tossed the cards. They exploded and there was a horrible jolt. Pietro's hands grabbed him and he felt like they were falling and falling. 

In an explosion of pain he landed, then realized he was laying on something uneven and bony. He rolled off, gasping, and looked over to see Pietro sprawled on the ground, unconscious. 

“Shit,” he hissed. 

“Are you two okay?” Lorna asked. “The Sentinels are destroyed but I can't see you. Too much smoke.” 

“Quicksilver's unconscious,” Remy said, groaning as he sat up and his ribs protested. “I think I mighta bruised something.” He felt slightly guilty. Pietro had broken his fall. 

He leaned over Pietro, shaking him slightly. Pietro gasped and tried to sit up, but his face paled and one of his hands flew to his ribs. He ended up back on the ground, panting. 

“You're an idiot,” Remy snapped, helping him to sit up slowly. “You shouldn't have broken my fall.” 

“I didn't want you to get hurt,” Pietro said stiffly. “I think I might care about you.” He looked a bit horrified by the idea. 

“Yeah, well, I care about you too,” Remy said, “and what makes you think I couldn't handle it?” 

“I'm more durable,” Pietro said, “and I'd rather see myself get hurt than see you get hurt knowing I could have done something.” 

“More durable.” Remy scoffed. Pietro glared at him. “Then what's wrong with your ribs?” 

“Speaking of,” Pietro suddenly made a swift motion with his hand, which resulted in a horrible cracking noise, and cried out, sagging against Remy. 

“What the hell was that?” 

“My bones heal quickly,” Pietro gasped. “I had to set it. Would you let go--”

“No.” 

“Remy--”

“I dunno why, but I wanna kiss you right now 'cause we both survived.”

Pietro stared at him. And then said, “You really must be an idiot.” 

Remy, who'd leaned closer to him, pulled back a little. “Why?” 

“I figured it out after our second meeting,” Pietro said. “Are you telling me you haven't yet? Why do you think you've been so honest with me, of all people?” 

“Because you're honest with---oh shit.” Remy's eyes widened and his heart started beating faster. Because of course. He hadn't even thought about it, but now that he did, it was obvious. “Why didn't you tell me?” 

“I thought you were smart enough to figure it out for yourself,” Pietro said, rolling his eyes. “Clearly not.” He paused, swallowed, and added, “FindingyoursoulmateisahighlystressfulthingandIhadtohavetimetoprocessitwithoutworryingabouthowyouwouldreact.” 

“Did not understand a word,” Remy said. “What, did you think I would reject you?”

“Yes,” Pietro said, then put a hand over his mouth and glared at Remy like it was his fault. “I've never been good enough for most people.” These words were muffled by his hand, but Remy could still hear them. 

“It's a good thing you're on a team full of people trying ta be better people,” Remy said. He pulled Pietro's hand away from his mouth. “And by the way, you're good enough for me. Now, I wanna kiss you, but is there anything else I should know before we start this? 'Cause soulmates are for life.” 

“I know,” Pietro said, paling even further. 

“Don't be scared,” Remy said.

“You flirt with everyone and I have standards,” Pietro said. “You have a reputation.” 

“'Cause I hadn't found my soulmate yet,” Remy said. 

“I don't like sex,” Pietro told him. 

“Well, I don't like your cooking but we'll figure something out,” Remy said. “Your hair is striking. I like that.” To prove his point, he carded his fingers through Pietro's hair. 

“I enjoy that,” Pietro said, sounding like the words had to be dragged out of him. 

“Can I kiss you now?” 

Pietro sighed. “Fine.” 

Remy leaned forward to meet Pietro's lips. To his surprise, Pietro started kissing him more aggressively, as if he wanted to drink in all of Remy. Pietro tasted like smoke, probably from the Sentinel explosion, and his skin was hot, probably from his metabolism. And that was perfect. 

“Are you two done finding each other?” Lorna's voice cut in.

They both broke apart (or rather, Pietro shoved Remy away) to find her, Danger, Warlock, and Doug staring at them, ranging from amused to touched. 

“Nope,” Remy said. “But I'm sure we can continue this back at the base.” 

“That's probably a good idea,” Lorna said, and she and the others started making their way back to their transport. 

Pietro and Remy stood and helped each other through the rubble.


End file.
